Production Glossary
Linear Editing
Linear editing, originally called video editing, is the method by which pictures or sounds recorded on videotape are manually changed or shifted. These are images taped by a video camera, audio laid down in a recording studio, or graphics created by a computer based program.Linear editing requires that the videotape be physically cut and spliced together. This process is difficult and time consuming, and generally avoided if at all possible. A track that is to be cut has to be perfectly aligned with the track it is to be attached to. A solution of iron filings mixed with carbon tetrachloride is wiped along the edge of the magnetic tracks to make them visible via microscope. This technique allows a splicer to then correctly align the two pieces of film being attached. This whole process has to be repeated for audio tracks as well.
Despite the advent and widespread use of non-linear editing and computer based software, linear editing is still utilized in television newsrooms. These newsrooms continue to use linear editing in order to begin the editing process as soon as tape is returned from the field. NLE requires that all footage be transferred to a computer before the editing process can begin.
